The Effect of Private School Choice Regulations on School Participation: Experimental Evidence from the Christian School Sector

ABSTRACT

Private school choice programs’ success depends partly on the supply of private schools. Many parents prioritize a religious education for their children. Therefore, it is important to consider how religious private schools may respond to various program regulations. We conducted an experimental study surveying a national sample of 354 leaders of Association of Christian Schools International (ACSI) member schools, the second largest private school organization of any kind in the United States. We find evidence that while over four-fifths of Christian school leaders are inclined to participate with no changes to school operations, open enrollment mandates reduce participation rates by 62 percentage points and employment regulations reduce participation rates by 79 percentage points.

KEYWORDS:

• Private school choice
• regulations
• Christian education
• vouchers
• randomized controlled trial

Acknowledgement

We gratefully acknowledge the following individuals, whose assistance and feedback made this study possible: David Balik, Caitlyn Berman, Nikki Bird, Elizabeth Clayton, James Elliott, Chuck Gilliam, Brianna Hatfield, Larry Lincoln, Jeff Mattner, Philip Scott, Cherry Shephard, Cecil Swetland, George Tryfiates.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1. The sample is nationally representative of ACSI membership with respect to geographic region, but schools in our sample are larger in terms of enrollment and more likely to be accredited. See Appendix Table 1A for external validity.

2. ACSI schools have historically been grouped into the following regions: California/Hawaii, Florida, Mid-America (Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, Nebraska, Ohio, South Dakota, Wisconsin, and West Virginia), Northeast (Connecticut, Washington, DC, Delaware, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont), Northwest (Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington), Rocky Mountain (Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, and Wyoming), South Central (Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas), and Southeast (Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia).